What newer No-till corn / bean planters smaller guys run?

I am just starting to look around. I have an IH 400 6 RN I was thinking of converting to no-till. There seems to be a lot of different options, including finding a newer planter. There are none locally for sale reasonably priced, I usually have to drive out to mid-ohio or indiana to find anything worthwhile.

But, a farm I drive by every once in a while has amazing stands of crops, and I know he is running brand new equipment. Another farm I pass has equally amazing crops, and I never seem to catch him in teh act, to see what he is using.

A lot of times, the thought of buying a used no-till scares me. Why would they get rid of it? does that mean they don't think it does a good enough job?

If you could think of one (6 RN or smaller) that does a fantastic job with both crops, I'd love to hear about it.

Oh, and if anyone has an IH 400 set-up for no-till, I want to hear how you did it!

John Deere 7200 6RN with single disk dry fertilizer openers with depth guage wheels, Frame mounted bubble coulter furrow openers, HD row unit downpressure springs, & HD no-till row markers with cast iron weights. In trashy, or very weedy condtions conditions I will put on row cleaners (interlocking finger wheels that push aside trash). In dry harsh condtions I will take off the rubber closing wheels, & have put cast iron wheels in place. As long as there is OK moisture; rubber is fine. If You compare a Kinze planter to the Deere; You find there isnt much difference. I am looking at new planters, & am leaning toward the Kinze this time. The transmission setup is better!

I dont know about the IH 400; but price is an indicator. I wouldnt worry too much about a heavily built planter; but the 400 looks a little light for the work to me!

There is at least one guy running an older conventional planter and
seeder here behind a pair of coulter carts to make them no till.
Yetter brand carts.

You would be wasting money setting up an IH 400 planter for no-till. It is way too light to do the job well. Plus the attachments would be next to impossible to find for it as well.

A JD 7000 or 7200 would be a good choice. A Kinze 2000 would work well too. To get a CIH no-till you would have to get into at least a 900 and you would be looking at bigger money then.

The JD and Kinze are the cheapest to find parts and attachments for. They have the biggest market share for a reason. That IH 400 of your is cheap for a reason too. They did not work the best.

To no-till you need a single disk opener(runs in front of the double disk seed openers), Trash wipers would be good too but not a drop dead thing, heavy duty down pressure springs, Spike or cast closing wheels if the ground is dry and hard. This is all you really need. I like the DAWN combination opener and trash wipers. They are well made and adjust easy. Yetter would be my second choice.

You will have a hard time finding a good used no-till planter if it has done many acres. No-till is hard on the planter. It is running in hard rough ground. All of the pivots and linkages wear faster. I would look for a good non no-till. Then add you own attachments. You can find good used attachments for the common JD and Kinze Planters. You need to start looking NOW.

IH 800 series and newer are no till ready from the factory. move down pressure springs to heaviest setting, throw away any opening wheels. now your ready to slot plant. put corn in deep, like 3in and keep beans at 1.5in. plants in heavy trash with no problems.

I'm not sure the 400 is a good starting point, you'd need to invest in a lot of add ons to get mostly there.

The 800 series is a much better foundation, and about as cheap to buy these days? 950 would be even better.

--->Paul

John Deere 1750 conservation planter. I bought mine new in 2006 and have no-tilled corn and beans each year. Works great.

John Deere 7000 conservation with 7200 updates. 4 row as I have smaller fields. You need a heavy planter to no till. You're welcome to come look at mine and check out the results in the field.

Had a six row 400 with the optional wavy coulter attachment on the front and did a little notill. Bought a 12 row 900 and sold the 400 to a guy at work that notills 80 acres with it every year. I retired so don't know how it is working.